This past week, I was able to take a trip to Costa Rica with one of my close friends. While I was there, I learned a lot of new things and saw very beautiful places. One thing that I learned is that they are the first country to ban single-use plastics. At every restaurant, they would always serve your drink with a paper straw on the side. Whenever I would ask for a to-go box, it would always be a paper container. A quote from Rubicon states,
“But according to Ocean Conservancy’s 2017 Coastal Cleanup Report, straws and stirrers make up just 3 percent of the total trash found on beaches. And Bloomberg News estimates that on a global scale, straws would probably only account for 0.03 percent of total plastic waste by mass.”
https://www.rubicon.com/blog/paper-straws-better-environment/
I hope to see more restaurants in California transition to paper-made utensils and packaging in the future.
While on the beaches, I found very few pieces of trash and was well maintained. At exit areas, you could find multiple recycle bins for specific items.
Save Our Pacific 